Top 10 Best Personal Finance Software You Should Be Using

One of the great advantages of living in the digital era is the ready availability of all kinds of tools that simplify tasks that would have otherwise taken a lot of time and extensive knowledge to complete.

Finance for instance has always been considered intricate, complicated, and even tricky, which is why many people suck at it and those that have mastered it charge high fees for their expertise.

However, personal finance software seems to be the bridge between these two ends of the financial spectrum as they provide the much needed financial assistance to everyone at an affordable cost.

What Is Personal Finance Software?

Any digital program that assists you with your finances is considered a personal finance software.

Depending on your needs, you can select different kinds of software, it can be for a variety of tasks, including budgeting, investing, managing debt, and setting savings objectives.

Personal finance software helps you set up procedures that work for you and is intended to make managing and tracking your finances easier and more effective.

There are basic financial planning software that only offer a simple interface for managing your money, while the more sophisticated programs offer extra services like debt repayment assistance, budget management, and even financial coaching.

Having a good personal finance software will enable you to quickly and easily manage and keep track of all your accounts, including receipts, payments, income, expenses, as well as taxes.

But there are hundreds if not thousands of financial software out there, all promising to be the best at one thing or the other.

That’s why we have filtered the noise and are bringing you some of the best finance software available in the market today.

Why You Need Personal Finance Apps And Software

A personal finance software simply streamlines the process of managing your finances.

A reliable personal finance software will enable you to organize your data, have them all in one place, and back them up. For increased flexibility, cloud storage could also be used, so you can access your data from anywhere in the world at anytime.

You can use personal finance apps to learn the fundamentals of finance, improve your money management skills, and even find ways to achieve your long-term financial goals with ease.

You can master budgeting and cost tracking with the aid of some personal finance tools, while managing your investment portfolio can also be facilitated by some programs.

And of course, your personal finance software budget is also important.

Our top picks for the best personal finance software come in both free and premium varieties to accommodate different financial profiles and objectives.

So, take a look and maybe you’d find one that is suitable for all your financial needs.

What To Look For When Choosing A Personal Finance Software

There are certain aspects to take into consideration when deciding on the personal finance app or software you will be going for on your financial journey. Here’s what you should be looking for:

What tools does the program offer?

Depending on your personal circumstances and needs you will want to make sure the personal finance app you choose meets your specific goals.

What measures do they take to protect the privacy and security of your personal information?

No one wants to put their personal or financial information into a program that does not guarantee safety.

So, make sure the software you go for uses encryption to protect your data.

How much does the personal finance software cost?

Fortunately, personal finance software isn’t that expensive any more, but you should still think about your budget.

Ask yourself if you want to pay all at once, or would it be simpler to make monthly payments? 

Do you want a free program or are you willing to spend a certain amount on a standard or better still a premium personal finance software?

Many software products allow you to download a free trial version before you decide to buy them.

How will the program allow you to set and monitor your financial goals?

Personal finance software are good for producing reports in addition to being excellent at helping you manage your finances and keep track of your expenditures.

After that, you can use this information to complete things like paying your taxes or sharing it with a person who manages your accounts.

There are programs that keep track of all your spending, credit card activity, and investment activity.

Others offer courses on coaching and assisting you in staying on budget for beginners.

How does the software educate you on not only how to use the program, but how to improve financial literacy?

How easy is it to use the platform, is it easy to navigate and is it mobile-friendly?

Does it incorporate other apps and software?

Consider where and how you’ll use your personal finance toolkit. 

As with any software, it is wise to confirm that support will be available if necessary.

While some personal finance software solutions offer free help, others only offer it as part of a premium plan.

Depending on how comfortable you are using the software, you may require a lot of assistance.

How do actual customers rate the financial software?

Ratings and reviews are windows into the experience of users, you shouldn’t ignore them.

Top 10 Best Personal Finance Software And Apps

With budget management roots that stretch all the way back to 1983, Quicken has been around for a very long time.

Fortunately, this means that it continues to go through changes that keep it reassuringly top notch.

Along with its mobile-based equivalents, it also has the advantage of being available as software that runs on both Windows and Mac computers.

A good selection of financial reporting options are provided by Quicken.

These are organized around a variety of topics, including budgeting, bills, accounts, and even investing.

It gives you the opportunity to input your purchases and income for budgeting so you can compare them both and get a better understanding of how much you are spending in relation to how much you are making.

Features

Quicken’s home tab provides a thorough overview of your financial situation.

The spending tab, the bills and income section, and other key sections all contribute to painting a picture of your financial situation and are all quite simple to understand. 

• Financial tracking: Banking, loans, investments, 401(k), IRAs, and assets, including private holdings, are all included in your financial profile

•  Paying bills: Quicken pays your invoices without cost using Quicken Premier.

• Tax Filing: It helps prepare tax schedules and imports and exports data to other platforms like TurboTax.

• Platforms: Compatible with Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and other web-based platforms.

Pricing

Prices for Quicken start at $34.99 for a year, with the Deluxe edition available for $29.99. 

The Premium version, which typically sells for $74.99, is currently at $44.99.

Additionally, a Home and Business Version is available for $59.99 instead of the standard asking price of $99.99.

Pros

• Has Quicken’s Lifetime Planner built in to help you schedule retirement and other significant life events.
• Boasts of a decent degree of security through encryption
• Works across several platforms
• Has optional synchronization of bank accounts
• It has a good interface

Cons

• The mobile app is less complete than the PC version

YNAB is a personal finance software that assists you in managing your monthly budget while growing your financial knowledge.

The software gives you tutorials that will tackle some of the most challenging financial problems as you establish your budget and manage your daily finances.

YNAB helps kick negative money habits by teaching you fundamental financial management principles.

Features:

• It offeres great learning possibilities to keep you informed about all the app features and how to budget, there are live workshops, tutorials, articles, and a podcast.
• Lets you manually or automatically link banking accounts
• Connects with  Alexa, iOS, Apple Watch, Android, and desktop apps

Pricing:

 YNAB offers a 34-day free trial so you may use the program before deciding if it’s ideal for your unique financial objectives. The software costs either $98.99 per year or $14.99 per month.

Pros

• Budgeting proactively keeps you forming positive habits.
• Free trial allows you for 34 days, to use the YNAB app without charge (no credit card required)
• In the event that you are unhappy with the app, you have a 100% money-back guarantee.

Cons

• No internal bill-pay functionality
• It is considered expensive by users

The best free personal finance software out there is Mint, which has an intuitive app platform that enables you to track your entire financial situation.

Features:

• Banking, credit cards, investments, 401(k), IRAs, and other financial accounts are all included in financial tracking.
• Paying bills and organize bill-paying reminders
• There is an app available for iOS and Android.

Pricing

The price is free all features are at no cost.

Pros:

• Free access to your credit score without having a negative impact on it
• Credit monitoring services for free from TransUnion
• Your spending can be categorized and organized using the built-in budgeting feature.

Cons:

• No direct billing
• No shared accounts
• Lots of Ads

This is one of the more expensive tax preparation software, TurboTax is user-friendly, leading you through your taxes to help you accurately file your return.

It can be very helpful when tax season rolls around, to say the least.

Features:

• It provides the flexibility to either file your taxes on your own or have a tax professional do it for you.
• TurboTax will pay an IRS fine when neccessary.
• Works with Web-based, iOS, Android, Windows, and MacOS platforms

• With TurboTax Live, a tax professional can provide you with individualized guidance and respond to inquiries regarding your tax return. 
• You can use a tool in TurboTax’s paid versions to find deductions you might not have known you could claim. 
• In addition to using TurboTax online, you can download the program on your computer for greater security.

Pricing

For filing federal taxes, TurboTax provides a few tier-based programs that cost from $0 to $119. The higher tier alternatives come at an additional cost when filing state taxes.

Pros

• Preparation of taxes is done step-by-step making it quite easy even for beginners.
• Live support is offered with more advanced versions.
• Free audit assistance from a licensed tax professional is possible.
• Guidance with any significant adjustments in your life is also a possibility.

Cons 

• It’s relatively expensive

Mvelopes handles your money using the traditional envelope budgeting method.

It divides up your budget and places it in several envelopes.

For instance, if you allocate $100 for “gas” weekly, once you’ve used up the $100, you’re done.

However instead of using cash, it is done digitally on your phone and computer.

Features

• You can set up your “envelopes” and make a budget with the assistance of Mvelopes.
• To help you stay on budget throughout the month, the software tracks your spending and displays how much you’ve spent from each envelope.

Pricing

When you sign up for the premium plan, which costs $9.97 per month, you can try the basic version of Mvelopes for free for 30 days.

Pros

• Uses the simple budgeting technique based on “envelopes philosophy”
• A tailored financial plan, live chat assistance, access to their learning center, and higher-tiered memberships with extra benefits.
• Easy for users of debit and credit cards.

Cons

• No monitoring of retirement or investing
• Relatively expensive
• Some people may find the method difficult

FutureAdvisor is ideal for people who value having the option of receiving investing advice but who prefer to manage their account on their own.

Features

• To assist you in diversifying your portfolio, the investment software makes individualized recommendations that you can choose to follow or ignore. 
• FutureAdvisor attempts to consolidate your assets into accounts with its partners, Fidelity or TD Ameritrade, when you transfer your assets into the account.

Pricing

For a flat yearly charge of 0.5 percent of the managed assets, invoiced quarterly at 0.125 percent, FutureAdvisor administers the assets you move into the account. If you have investable funds of at least $5,000, you are qualified to sign up for the software.

Pros

• Relatively low investment required to start using FutureAdvisor.
• Helpful suggestions and recommendations available every step on the way.

Cons

• Website doesn’t provide a lot of information.
• AUM fee is quite expensive

HomeBank will be your cup of tea if you use multiple financial platforms,you can import data to avoid having to start from scratch if you’ve been managing your finances with other applications like Quicken or Microsoft Money.

Features

• HomeBank is outstanding for a free app. If you’re just getting started, you can import data from programs that are similar. This does, however, needs a significant amount of manual work. Since as you have to add in everything one-by-one.

• A limitless number of accounts may be added to the application, and they may be connected to one another to facilitate simple money transactions.

•  When sufficient data is provided, a variety of reports, including practical forecasting reports for things like car ownership, can be produced.

Pricing

HomeBank is free to install, use, and launch, so you can access all of its features without having to pay anything.

There is, however, a request for a donation if you are happy with how it functions.

On a page of the HomeBank website,a button with the default value of €20 is selected. 

Pros

• It allows you to import data from programs like Quicken, Microsoft Money and many other personal finance apps, as well as banks. Which is very helpful if you’re just getting started.
• An unlimited number of accounts may be added to the application, and they may be connected to one another to facilitate simple money transactions.

Cons

• It requires a significant amount of manual work, which is possibly one of the drawbacks of a totally free tool.

To assist you in staying on track with your ongoing expenditures and long-term financial objectives, Personal Capital provides both budgeting and investing solutions.

Features

• You can manage all of your financial accounts through Personal Capital on a single platform. To have your entire financial picture in front of you, you can include your bank accounts, mortgage, other credit accounts, investment accounts, and more. 

• Using Personal Capital saves you the trouble of switching between tabs to see where you stand if you have many accounts.

• You can receive individualized financial advice based on your goals if your portfolio is worth more than $100,000. 

• Financial advisors must give you advice that is in your best interest even when you pay them for their services.

Pricing

The annual management fee is graded based on the amount of the investment and there is no monthly fee. In the case of balances under $1 million, it begins at 0.89 percent.

Pros

• Allows you to manage all your accounts in one place
• Offers personalized financial advice available for premium users

Cons

• The AUM fee is on the high side.

As the name suggests, PocketGuard can serve as a deterrent to excessive spending.

This budgeting tool connects to all of your financial accounts and allows you to monitor your monthly spending in relation to your monthly budget.

Features

• Specific elements in PocketGuard, such as subscription tracking and data that could be used to negotiate reduced bill rates, or reduce overspending.

• This is one of the simplest apps to set up and connect to your bank accounts. It keeps tabs on your income, your outgoing costs for regular bills and living expenses, and contributions into your savings account.

• You may even track each individual bill with PocketGuard’s aid and look for ways to cut costs. It keeps an eye out for recurrent charges from phone, TV, and Internet providers, which may enable you to locate more affordable solutions.

Pricing

• Free basic version; Pro version $7.99 per month
•  No free trial so you have to pay if you want to take it for a spin.

Pros

• Easy to understand interface with a visible cash flow monitor.
• You can easily identify subscriptions you can cancel to cut monthly expenditure.

Cons

• The pro version comes at a price and there are no free trials to test if it’s a good fit.
• Some users complain about technical issues

Prism makes paying bills easier by enabling you to keep track of all your billing accounts in one spot and syncing with thousands of other billers.

Features

• Prism gives you a complete picture of your finances by displaying all of your bills and financial accounts in a single app. More than 11,000 billers, including major banks and even minor energy companies, are listed on the app. 

• When you add your bills to the app, Prism keeps track of them automatically and notifies you when they are due in order to help you make timely payments.

• By planning payments for the same day or several days in advance, you can utilize the app to pay your expenses. 

• Prism removes the hassle of logging into several accounts in order to pay different bills.

Pricing

The cost of the software/app is free

Pros

• Offers payment reminders that are very practical.
• Your entire account history is in one app.

Cons

•  Only supports bill payments, and has very limited features.

After all is said and done, when deciding on which personal financial software to choose, make sure the software has the functionality you need the most.

While some people might benefit from basic budgeting or habit-forming apps that help you plan and motivate spending within limitations, others such as business owners should use higher-level tools.

Whatever your needs may be, the best personal finance software must be reliable, provide simple account syncing, assist you in achieving your financial objectives, provide financial literacy and be secure.